How does everyone know where to be and what to do on a film set? Because they have a schedule.
I’m going to pick up where I left off in Part 1 of The Pre-Production Process and How I Go About Doing It, and that was with the schedule.
But first, I just wanted to reiterate that I believe pre-production to be the most important part of the filmmaking process.
We learned in Part 1 that pre-production consists mainly of all of the planning and organizing that you do, so that you can successfully complete the project.
We also learned that there are four main cornerstones of the pre-production process and they are: the story and script, the schedule, the budget, and the acquisition of essentials.
I’m going to finish telling you about each one of these in detail and how I go about the pre-production process for each one of my projects to ensure that things go as smooth as possible.
Remember, The Schedule Is For Everyone
The breakdown script is for you. The shot list is for you. But everyone gets a schedule, so let’s do it right.
The first thing I do that will enable me to create the schedule is to go back to my breakdown sheets.
I review the breakdown sheets and I create these strips of cardboard that I then put all of the information for each scene on and this will allow me to organize everything and create the Production Board or Strip Board, as it is sometimes called.
A Production Board will have all of these strips organized in terms of which scenes you want to film on which days. And this will allow you to create your schedule.
You can purchase a wide variety of Production Boards online and some of them come with strips that you can write on and erase like on a white board, but, as I’ve said, I like to do things the old-fashioned way for whatever reason.
If I have fifty breakdown sheets then I know I have fifty scenes to film and I’ll cut out fifty strips from some poster board I have starting from the top and I’ll cut them long-ways all the way down with about half an inch of width to them.
Starting from the top of the strip, I transfer the information from the breakdown sheets to the strip.
I put the scene number, whether it’s day or night, interior or exterior, the number of script pages the scene is, the scene heading, which cast members are in the scene, and any other pertinent information I feel should go at the bottom, like props or any special equipment I might need.
Then, you can start organizing things in terms of similar location, interior or exterior, and even actor availability.
I like to schedule all of my exterior shots together, even if they are in different locations. The reason for this is that if it’s a nice day, I want to take advantage of this because you never know what the weather might bring.
I also schedule my exterior shots early, because I want to get them out of the way as soon as possible for that same reason.
You can also have a contingency built into the schedule, that says something to the effect of, if it’s raining, we will shoot Day 3 on Day 2, if Day 3 happens to be all interior scenes and if you don’t want it to be raining for your exterior shots, that is.
I schedule the interior scenes by location, and we stay there as many days as we have to before moving to the next location, within reason.
The less time you spend traveling and moving things, the more time you have to shoot and the less time you will spend on the actual production, which saves you money.
How many scenes do you schedule in a day?
This is a question that I get quite often and I answer it like this: I go by script pages, rather than scenes, and I will schedule ten to fifteen script pages a day.
This may sound like a lot and it is a lot, but on an independent production it is in your best interest to get in and get out as quickly as possible in order to save as much money as possible.
This ten-to-fifteen-page range ensures that I will only be in production for seven or eight days maximum. This really keeps the equipment rental costs down.
The longer you have to rent the equipment for, the more your costs increase, so I try to keep my production days to a minimum.
After you get everything organized, you put all the strips on the board for Day 1. Then, you do the same thing for Day 2 and Day 3 and so on until the board is complete.
Now that you know how many days you will be shooting for and what scenes you will be shooting during those days, you can now create your shooting schedule to give to the cast and crew.
I create a one-page schedule that has all of the shooting days on it along with what scenes are to be shot on those days, as well as a more comprehensive shooting schedule where each day of shooting is one whole page.
I’ll give both of those to the cast and crew.
On each page of the shooting schedule, I have the scenes that will be shot, all cast needed for that day, the name of the location or locations, props needed, special equipment, and any other information that I feel might be pertinent for that particular day.
Now that our lists are made and the schedule is complete, we can now create a budget for the project.
Budgets: Don’t Go Overboard
Creating a budget for your project is pretty simple after all of the work we have done.
If you’re creating a budget for yourself, it doesn’t have to be pretty. There are numerous books about film budgets and a plethora of templates that you can print off online if you need a more formal budget.
Formal budgets are used for seeking financing or if you have anybody that you have to answer to.
If you are self-financing your project, you can just make a simple budget of how much everything is going to cost and then don’t spend any more money after that.
So, how do we do that?
I begin by going to all of the lists that I made earlier. I go through the prop list and see if I have any of the stuff on it or if I can make it myself. Anything that doesn’t fall into those categories, I know I will have buy. I look them up and see how much they will cost and I add that to the budget.
For Wardrobe, I either have the actors wear their own clothes or I get them from a second-hand store and add that to the budget.
I always try to use free locations whenever possible, but if you have to pay something for a location, add that to the budget.
If I need special equipment, I look up how much it would be to purchase or rent them and then I add that to the budget.
Based on the shot list and the schedule, I know what type of equipment I will need and for how long I will have to rent them for.
You can find a rental house close to you or you can rent equipment online in which they ship the equipment to you and then you ship it back.
I look up how much this will be and then I add it to the budget.
Don’t forget to add post-production expenses to your budget and even expenses beyond post-production.
Post-production expenses could include sound expenses. If you’re going to have a third-party company complete your sound for you, see how much that would be and add it to your budget.
If you’re doing everything yourself, there will still be expenses.
The purchasing of original music, stock music, sound effects libraries, and software expenses, just to name a few.
Add those to the budget.
Film festival admission fees, film market fees, or even self-marketing expenses can be added to the budget. It really just depends on your situation.
After you have taken all of these things into account, the budget is complete.
Add everything up and this is how much your project is going to cost. You should also set aside a couple hundred as a contingency fund for emergencies, if you have it.
You can either attempt to secure financing for your project or finance the film yourself. If you have kept your costs way down by doing most of the jobs yourself, this is certainly a feasible option.
Once the budget is set and locked, don’t spend any more money on anything. There is no reason for it and you risk not being able to see your project all the way through to the end if you do.
Now, there is only one final step before we can begin production.
The Acquisition of Essentials
This step is rather simple. You just purchase, rent, or acquire in some other way, all of the things on your lists.
Purchase and/or acquire all of the props on your prop list.
Purchase and/or acquire all of the wardrobes you will need from your wardrobe list.
Purchase and/or secure all of the locations on your location list for the dates set on your schedule.
Secure talent and crew from your talent and crew list.
Every area has its own film commission and, on their website, they will have information about all of the working professionals in that given area. You can contact one of those if you need any type of crew for your project. Just look up your city or states’ film commission and go to their website to get started.
As for acquiring actors for your project, you could start by contacting local modeling and talent agencies or hold open auditions somewhere, if you like.
You will be going over quite a few things with your actors before you actually begin shooting and I will be writing more about the casting process and how I go about doing it in upcoming entries.
Next, rent or purchase all of the equipment from your equipment list for the dates set on your schedule.
Congratulations.
Once you do all of this, you’re ready for production.
